Additional Coverage:
- I was in a coma after a car crash at 18. Nearly 20 years later, I tracked down the stranger who saved my life. (businessinsider.com)
Reunion After Decades: Woman Tracks Down Stranger Who Saved Her Life
A chance discovery of a decades-old police report led a woman to reunite with the stranger who saved her life after a near-fatal car accident. The report, unearthed while helping her father move, detailed the events of January 16, 1989, a day the author had never fully remembered. It named a witness, sparking a memory and a quest to find the man who played a crucial role in her survival.
The accident occurred after a night of regret and impulsive decisions. Desperate to reconcile with her boyfriend, the author, then 18, ignored the icy conditions and drove her 1965 Mustang, ultimately crashing into a pole.
The witness, driving behind her, saw the accident and stopped, despite the author initially refusing help. He insisted she get into his car and drove her to a nearby gas station where an ambulance was called.
Unbeknownst to her at the time, the author’s injuries were severe. Internal bleeding and a tear in her duodenum required immediate surgery and a drug-induced coma. She awoke four days later, unaware of how close she had come to death.
Decades later, armed with the witness’s name from the police report, she hired a private investigator and finally connected with him. Their meeting over coffee revealed details she’d never known, including her initial refusal of help and the witness’s unwavering insistence on getting her to safety. He even remembered the tasselled leather jacket she wore, a detail etched in his memory because it had to be cut from her body by paramedics.
The reunion brought a sense of closure to both. Remarkably, they discovered they lived and worked near each other, and had even unknowingly passed each other on the street over the years. The author now considers the man who saved her life her guardian angel, a real person who stepped in when it mattered most.